2 3 o WOLF-HUNTING. 



of the imprudent bargain to which he had committed himself, 

 Kenwyn still cherished a hope that the horse-dealer would be 

 brought home on a hurdle rather than on " Lunatique's " back, 

 I do not describe, according to Marseillier, the injured pride and 

 vexation of the man a whit too strongly. 



Locrist, the fixture at which the hounds were appointed to 

 meet, is, as I have before said, a small hamlet consisting of two 

 cottages and an old water-mill, snugly situated in a valley which, 

 from its beautiful trout-stream and dark hanging woods, is one of 

 the wildest and most picturesque spots in Brittany. It is scarcely 

 more than two leagues from Carhaix ; and as the covers abound 

 with woodcock, and the river in hard weather with teal and wild- 

 duck, the visits of the town braconniers men who get their 

 livelihood solely by the chasse were by no means unfrequently 

 paid, as may be supposed, to that locality. On the present 

 occasion it was quickly discovered by Louis Trefarreg that on 

 the previous day a couple of braconniers had drawn every cover 

 in the valley; and, as woodcock were then numerous, had kept 

 up a continuous fusillade at that and other game from morning 

 to night. Our old friend Kledan Kam, too, in spite of his recent 

 wound, had sallied forth with his musket and profited largely by 

 the toil of the men and their dogs on the opposite side of the 

 valley ; and although he with difficulty managed to hobble along 

 on a stick, many a cock and a red-leg fell victims to this crafty 

 dodge of the lame " Lion." 



Now a fox, in a wild country, is a very wild animal, and 

 speedily takes the hint to be off, if the seclusion in which he 

 lives is intruded upon by an unwelcome visitor; but far more 

 vigilant and suspicious of danger is the cowardly wolf, especially 

 if by daylight the sound of man's voice and the report of fire- 

 arms ring on his ears : wide is the berth he then gives to that 

 hated locality, nor will he return for many a long day to it, even 

 though it be his old haunt and the strongest cover in the 



